Secure Electronic Payment

Abstract

A method of authorizing a secure electronic payment from a payer to a payee. At a digital identity system, an electronic message is received, which comprises a payer credential and identifies a payee system. At the digital identity system, a digital identity associated with the payer credential is accessed, the digital identity comprising: 1) at least one identity attribute or data for deriving at least one identity attribute, and 2) a payment token or data for obtaining a payment token, the payment token for effecting an electronic payment from the payer to a recipient of the payment token. At least one electronic message is transmitted from the digital identity system to the payee system to render the identity attribute and the payment token available to the payee system, for determining, based on the identity attribute rendered available to the payee device, whether to use the available payment token to effect an electronic payment from the payer to the payee.

Description

BACKGROUND[0001]Payment fraud is a serious problem in the modern world and the problem is getting worse as more and more payments are made electronically. This applies to online payments in particular where the opportunities for committing payment fraud are rife. One of the most common types of payment fraud is where a user's payment card details are obtained illicitly and used without their authorisation to make purchases online. A significant proportion of card payments worldwide end up being reversed (a so-called “chargeback”) for this reason. Such payments often go through initially because insufficient checks are made to verify the identity of the person using the card details.SUMMARY[0002]This disclosure provides a secure and efficient mechanism for making identity-linked payments. It has various applications, which include the combating of online fraud but also other applications where identity checks need to be made before accepting payment. One example is age verification w...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0002]This disclosure provides a secure and efficient mechanism for making identity-linked payments. It has various applications, which include the combating of online fraud but also other applications where identity checks need to be made before accepting payment. One example is age verification when purchasing age-restricted goods.

[0003]This is achieved by incorporating payment tokenisation elements into a digital identity system. Within the digital identity system, a user can create a digital identity which can then be used to assert his identity (or some aspect of his identity) to another user or device. The digital identity comprises one or more identity attributes and / or data for deriving such attribute(s), and the user is able to prove his identity by sharing at least one of these identity attributes with the other user or device in a transaction conducted via the digital identity system. Identity-linked payment functions are provided by allowing the user to incorporate into his digital identity one or more payment attributes, which can be a payment token or data for obtaining a payment token such as payment card details. The payment token can be shared with the other user or device in the same transaction that asserts the user's identity to the other user or device. This allows the other user or device to verify the identity of the user based on the shared identity attribute, which in turn allows the other user or device to decide whether to accept payment from the user.

[0048]The sharing token is unique to each sharing token request. A user can request as many sharing tokens as he likes, and specifies each time which of his attributes he wants bound to that sharing token, which provides a flexible sharing mechanism. Each sharing token is bound to a fixed set of attribute(s), which is specified entirely by the token request such that the user has complete control over what data he makes available with that token.

Problems solved by technology

Payment fraud is a serious problem in the modern world and the problem is getting worse as more and more payments are made electronically.

This applies to online payments in particular where the opportunities for committing payment fraud are rife.

One of the most common types of payment fraud is where a user's payment card details are obtained illicitly and used without their authorisation to make purchases online.

Such payments often go through initially because insufficient checks are made to verify the identity of the person using the card details.

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